


The Question of What If Hanging In The Air

by Coolcoolcool_nodoubt



Category: Warcross - Marie Lu
Genre: Angst, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Canon Compliant, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Getting Together, Mutual Pining, Phoenix Riders, Post-Canon, Slow Burn, Team Bonding, Warcross, Wildcard, rekindling love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-29
Updated: 2019-04-29
Packaged: 2020-02-09 23:57:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18648745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Coolcoolcool_nodoubt/pseuds/Coolcoolcool_nodoubt
Summary: What happens a few months after the end of Wildcard once Hideo begins advising the team for the reboot...Slow burn & Angsty... will probably turn smuttyTitle taken from the last chapter of Wildcard





	1. Comfortable

**Author's Note:**

> The team Emika put together for Henka Games are obviously the Phoenix Riders!

Hideo’s house arrest meant that we have to gather at his place, although it took months of negotiating with the court to have a group of 5 of us within his walls. Even still, a police man stands at the living room’s door.

Although the visits have been brief, it’s our third time here and this time Hideo has cooked us a lovely meal. I can tell Asher, Hammie, Roshan and Tremaine - my Henka Games team - are starting to finally feel comfortable in Hideo’s presence as they are lively tonight and full of excitement, shovelling dumplings into their mouths as we discuss our potential ideas with Hideo himself.

Hideo is still not legally able to work for Henka Games, but there’s a sort’ve loop hole that allows him to provide us free advice.

We have talked frequently on the phone but I have kept it professional, all business with polite small talk. Whilst he can still be quite playful over the phone (an act I wish I didnt enjoy), I have a guard up around him and he’s respectful enough to never try and break through.

I’m thankful we can no longer link because, if we did, he would feel how strongly I am caught up in desire whenever I am near him, how it spikes even more so when he gives us glimpses of his clever mind. 

Surprisingly I manage to keep my feelings hidden from my face but that doesn’t mean I don’t catch him watching me sometimes and I know he can see the blush on my cheeks.

I take a slice of meat and consider how safe and loved I feel in this moment, surrounded by my team. I am lost in this thought when Tremaine and Hammie begin bickering loudly enough to break me out of my reverie and Hideo cracks a joke at their expense. Everyone blinks for a second and then bursts into laughter and I realise that this is the first time they have heard Hideo make a joke. Maybe he is starting to feel comfortable in their presence too. His grin is wide and easy like his happiness and he almost looks his age, young and full of optimism. All of those ice cold guards and pleasantries that defined his years as the Henka Games CEO are falling away during our meetings and he’s beginning to let the others in, as he did me.

After the laughter dies down the group continue their conversation, but he notices me watching him and he looks at me sideways, blushes and gives me a wry smile which I return. I know the affection in my eyes is abundantly clear but in that moment I can’t bring myself to care.  
He turns his head to look me directly in the eyes and distantly I am aware that this is the first time I have let down my professional guard around him since the day of his release. His smile falters, his eyelids flutter and his lips part as if to say something but Roshan begins to choke on some rice and needs Hammie to come to his rescue and just like that, the moment is gone.

I harden my mask into politeness towards him and the uncertainty he feels around me returns to his face. The mirror image of our first few meetings, the balance of power tilted heavily in my favour

When I return home that evening I am plagued by memories

> _“We were never well matched were we?  
>  There’s no version of our story that wouldn’t have been doomed from the start”_ he had said. 

Was he right? Did he still believe that? 


	2. My name on your lips

Over the weekend that follows I am reminded of him almost everywhere I turn. I am used to it at work but this is the first time since we stopped Taylor that he has consumed my mind.

I frown at the turn my thoughts have taken, text Roshan to see if he’s free for Mario Kart and begin preparing my food for the week ahead. Distractions, that’s what I need.

—————————

“Maybe we should call Hideo, he might know how to fix it?” Hammie says during a meeting late Monday afternoon. My body stiffens at the sound of his name and I am suddenly paranoid, as if my team can tell that my weekend has been spent trying to pretend he doesn’t exist.

“No.” I say, a little too forcefully. Hammie and Asher exchange a look. “No”, I try again, “I’ll study the code this evening, we don’t need to bother Hideo.”

I dismiss the team and pull the laptop towards me, grateful for the distraction and the feeling of control coding gives me. I relax my eyes and with the room now quiet I notice the issue and correct it almost immediately... so why do my hands still reach for my phone and dial for Hideo? 

_“Good afternoon Emika”_ He answers and on hearing his voice I panic. _“Emika? Are you there?” “...is everything alright?”_

His obvious concern makes me feel weak and fire spreads through me as my pride is burned. I hold my hand over the receiver and clear my throat. In my usual clipped, professional tone I answer “yes I’m fine but the team have found an issue with a piece of code. Would you mind if I come round this evening to discuss it?”

If he notices my “I” instead of “We” he doesn’t mention it and for that I am glad. I fear my resolve would have shattered if he had questioned it.

 _“You know Emika,"_  
  
I wish he wouldn’t say my name  
  
_“being on house arrest, I obviously have a number of important places to go this evening, but since you asked so nicely, I suppose I can postpone”_

I roll my eyes and tell him I will be there soon.

I survey myself in my office mirror... why I am doing this? I solved the coding issue without his help. Why am I using it as an excuse to see him? Do I trust him enough to let him in again, to let down the professional barrier between us?

I have gained so much confidence in myself after the events of the Championships and the appointment of my new role, but Hideo continues to be a stain of self-doubt. I can never be sure of anything when it comes to Hideo. Except of my feelings for him.

In the end, this is what forces me out the door, into the car and up his front steps.


End file.
